Leading Complex Projects

CHAPTER 10PAUL HARRIS

Know Thyself, Be a Collector of People, Have Your Own Learning Model

“I am a Magpie.”

If we were to take the analysis and learnings in this work and craft a deliberate plan for a young engineer to become a successful project leader, what would that plan look like? We suspect it would look a lot like the career of Paul Harris. Paul's journey from a young engineer to a top project executive provides a textbook for how one might develop a strong project leader. Paul's journey is very unusual in having such clarity and definition and foresight; it is almost as if Paul had a curated career specifically designed for him.

We first met Paul ten years ago when we were visiting him and his team for a readiness assessment of his project. The project we were reviewing was being done on the heels of another project that was recently completed by a different team, but the same organization, that had gone terribly awry. It wasn't a particularly large project – monetarily – but it was complex. As we discussed Paul's project, it was very clear from the beginning that Paul wasn't an ordinary project manager. He knew every detail about the project, where it stood, what the open areas of risks were, and how the team was positioned to deal with any risks that may materialize. At that point, given the recently completed project that had gone awry, we weren't entirely sure whether Paul's views were unrealistic optimism, boasting, or confidence driven by a successful track ...